Road Fotos 49

It’s been two years since my last “road fotos” post, and it was great to go out exploring without a fixed destination, i.e., gallivanting,  other than a late afternoon rendezvous on the other side of the Hudson.  Seeing traces of the D & H Canal, i.e., New York’s Coal Canal, was the general goal, but then I saw this.

This is the reverse, and it refers to the D & H Canal.  Little did I know the “dove” in Mamakating was one of fifty in the Catskills of Sullivan County.  That fact alone will draw me back here.   Mamakating was once home of the mamakoots . . .

A roadside stop to check the internet in Mamakating convince me to turn back about two miles to Wurtsboro  (formerly Rome) and see the dove there and wander a bit as well.

I was impressed by the signage in parts of the old D & H Canal linear footprint.

That rock wall has been there since at least 1828.

The road on the left side of the photo is US 209 looking back toward Wurtsboro.  There’s swamp in the middle  with unexplained water trails through it.  The straight line heading diagonal into the lower right corner is the D & H towpath, with the canal off to its right.

The next hamlet on US 209 is Phillipsport, an actual port on the D & H, and while taking photos of the dove, I noticed

this sign.  It was Saturday, and I was ahead of my non-existent schedule, so . . . off to the cemetery I went . . . to find

it a wild place.

Six miles on, I got to Ellenville, and noticed these five intriguing panels covering windows.

At one time, Ellenville was quite the port.

Napanoch is home to the Eastern Correctional Facility, a place that was built during the days of the D & H Canal, as you can see from this postcard.  In fact, stones to build the place were shipped on the canal, as you can see from here. 

By now I’d started to feel pressure of the clock, so I skipped the possibilities of BBQ in Kerhonkson and its adjoining Ker Honky Tonk.  Ah . . . next time.

Next stop was 20 miles on in Rosendale.  I know people there and in the area, but I allowed myself only a quick walk around.  I hope to get back here soon.

All photos, WVD.

Other Watersheds 7: The Delaware Redux

Almost exactly a decade ago I did this post.  Today I decided to add to it and broaden the geographic scope.  Stick with me to see how broadened this gets.

From the Delaware Memorial Bridge to the entrance of Delaware Bay is about 100 miles.  Near the entrance you see big water and big traffic, like a light Ivory Coast above and a working OSG Vision below.  OSG Vision is mated to OSG 350, a huge barge used to lighter crude oil tankers 342,000 barrels at a time.

Forty miles upstream from the Delaware Memorial, there’s the Ben Franklin Bridge, here with Pilot towing La Princesa and assisted by Grace and Valentine Moran.

Some Delaware River boats are rarely seen in the sixth boro like Jack Holland.

Almost 150  miles upstream from the Philly-Camden area is  Hawk’s Nest Highway, the part of the river once paralleled on the nearer side by the D&H Canal.

Of course I paddled the whole way up there. In fact, this stretch of the Delaware has enough current that a 21st century paddler would not choose to go upstream very far, and a 19th century boat-mule canaler would want to keep navigation separate from the river.

Early summer had its share of young  birds,

deer, and trout visible under the canoe.

Some mysterious paddlers shared the waters.

That New York side of the river . . .

if you look close, you can see in places that these are not natural rock formations. Rather, they support the towpath side of the D & H Canal, way up above the river.

Part of Route 97 is also known as Hawk’s Nest Highway.

To digress, the eastern end of the Canal–about a hundred miles to the NE–is in Kingston NY, and a transshipping point was Island Dock, which

has now overgrown.  I wonder if there’s ever been a project to clear the trees and undergrowth and contemplate a recreation of this important site.  Oil is today’s fuel;  coal was definitely king in this other age.

But let’s back to the Delaware.  North of Barryville, there’s this bridge. At least, it’s now a bridge, but when

John Roebling built it, it was an aqueduct for D & H coal boats bringing anthracite out of the Coal Region to the sixth boro.

 

Here’s a preserved portion of the Canal between Hawley and Honesdale PA, just upstream (water has long long) from Lock 31.   Honesdale was once the transhipping point between railroad cars and canal boats and deserves another visit and maybe a whole post, which maybe I’ll getto when the museum there opens again.

Pennsylvania has place names like Oil City, Cokeburg, and Coal Port.  The coal transported on the D & H came from aptly-named Carbondale, another place that deserves more time.  The commodity legacy is seen in these two businesses

and maybe others.

All photos, WVD, at different points over the past 10 years.  If anyone has ideas about high points along the river you’d suggest I visit, please let me know.  Since my jobs for this summer have fallen through, this might be the year to canoe and hike.

Unrelated, if you haven’t yet read this story about an Argentine in Portugal unable to get home because of cancelled flights and choosing to sail across the Atlantic in a 29′ boat to see his father turn 90, here‘s the link.